SpaceX is now targeting Thursday, March 4, for the launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch scheduled for March 2 was aborted due to unspecified technical issues.
The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this mission previously flew on seven missions: the Iridium-8 mission, the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously flew on three Starlink missions, and the other half previously supported two Starlink missions.
Unbounded by traditional ground infrastructure, Starlink can deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable or completely unavailable. At a time when more people are working from home and more students are participating in virtual learning, internet connectivity is more important than ever. With Starlink, we are able to deploy quickly to areas that need it most.
In December, the Wise County Public School District in rural Virginia, where approximately 40% of teachers and students do not have internet access at home, announced it would provide some families in the area with Starlink to support remote learning. Starlink units were deployed in January and over 40 homes are now connected with high-speed internet.